What is FLOCK?

What we do.

FLOCK re-imagines methods of economic sustainability in the performing arts community. It provides an accessible creative hub where the most urgent contemporary issues take shape in both choreographic works and educational engagements.

FLOCK rethinks ways of being together while committed to plural identities, a place in perpetual motion that is shaped by the artists involved and the projects that it works to defend.

FLOCK is a dynamic incubator for risky creative endeavors that radically impacts the ecology of the Portland dance and art communities.

Our Offering.

FLOCK offers two distinct programs: Membership and Education.

Each of these programs nurtures a generous community spirit. Sharing space, information and inspiration bolsters the autonomy of artists’ individualized practices while building community.

Our Offering.

FLOCK offers two distinct programs: Membership and Education.

Each of these programs nurtures a generous community spirit. Sharing space, information and inspiration bolsters the autonomy of artists’ individualized practices while building community.

FLOCK membership presents a much-needed alternative to the product-oriented, project-by-project model of studio access prevalent in our region. The membership framework allows artists accustomed to this model to re-imagine dance time. A flat monthly fee redefines the relationship to studio time and expenses. A combination of set and flex rehearsal times affords members a degree of scheduling freedom otherwise unavailable in the Portland area. Teaching and in-progress showings are permitted without additional fees, freeing up members to pursue income earning opportunities. Membership makes FLOCK into a hub of healthy experimentation unencumbered by obligations to produce an end product. It offers dependable studio times uninterrupted by the schedule conflicts encountered when performance halls are rented for shows.

Education

The Education Program is smaller in scale, though no less integral to FLOCK. Presenting thoughtful inlets to the larger dance community, the Education Program creates a series of classes geared towards interest and inquiries that are currently reflected in the field. FLOCK is dedicated to supporting local, national and international dance artists through opportunities to both facilitate and participate in on-going classes and series-based workshops. These offerings may also be coordinated with members' artistic practices and interests. Utilizing its proximity to Disjecta Contemporary Arts Center, FLOCK's Education Program forges connections with visiting artists and facilitates learning opportunities synergistic with Disjecta's programming. FLOCK recognizes that the vitality and health of Portland's dance community relies on inclusive, thought provoking, physically vigorous dance education. At the heart of FLOCK's educational programming lies a commitment to making publicly accessible a diverse array of compelling classes and workshops.

Who is FLOCK?

These are the dynamic team of choreographers who will call FLOCK their artistic home

Who is FLOCK?

These are the dynamic team of choreographers who will call FLOCK their artistic home

Tahni Holt

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Tahni Holt brings to the center years of experience as a choreographer and administrator. Holt has been creating dances in Portland for the past 18 years and is deeply committed this region's arts ecology and its communities. She has traveled extensively as a choreographer, performer, teacher and student, and is profoundly inspired by colleagues around the world who situate their artistic practices to utilize the best artistic conditions. The mission of FLOCK is shaped by Holt's believes; convictions which invigorate a proactive project of artist-driven empowerment.

Tahni Holt is deeply invested in creating opportunities for other dance artists as well as creating space for experimental explorations and conversations. Community making is at the core of what she does, be it by way of performance, teaching or the rallying of peers toward a common cause.

In a culture where art is severely marginalized, Holt persists in creating time and place for process, inquiry and practice; for her community as well as for herself. Her dance making, her teachings, and her organizational endeavors all aim toward a central goal: to create important conversations - be they in movement or in language - that enrich those who engaged in them, and that would not exist without the initiative that fostered them.